Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-04-15
A ROBBERS UNION.
Wholesale Thieyery Among En-
ployeeS OF the Pan Handle Rail-
road
They Rob Freight Trains Systematic
ally. One Hundred Men Implicit
and Over Fifty in Jail.

dispatch from Pittsburg of April
18th says: The Pan handle RAILROAD has
discovered a conspiracy among its en-
ployes TO rob its trains, and the work of
arresting the crews as the trains arrived
here began at midnight and continued
till O'Clock this morning.
ONE HUNDRED MEN N THE CONSPIRACY.
Early trains from the West were held
In the yard and were at once boarded by
detectives and other officers armed with
warrants. The officials of the company
contend in general way that in this past
three years merchandise TO the value of
half million dollars has been taken
from the cars, and that the conspiracy to
rob the trains involves fully one hundred
train hands, who have been watched dur
ing the past three months By detectives
engaged by the company.
John H. Hampton, Esq, attorney of
the Pennsylvania Com pany, was seen
this morning in the Office of the detective
agency, where, sitting amidst hetero-
gesous collection of the plunder, he
said: "These robberies have been carried
on Systematically for several years. The
company have long been aware that
there was a leakage somewhere, and as
early as September, 1886, they quietly
commenced Investigations.
DETECTIVES ON THE TRAINS.
Detectives were placed on trains
where the goods could be watched, and
the thieves caught. We had already dis
covered that the culprits were employees
of the company. In September there
were eighty crews on freight trains on
the Panhandle Railroad coming into
Pittsburgh. OF these eighty crews, no
less than seventy-five were found 10 be
crooked. A crew consists of conductor,
hagman, ard two brakeman
In some cases all the men
were involved. in others only part. The
statement that the engineers and fire
men were mixed up in the robberies is
wrong; not 4 single oneis involved. The !
goods were obtained by the thieves IN
various ways. In some instances the
seals were broken, while ia others hatch
cts were used to cut hole in the end of
the car through which the men crawled
and took what they coveted. They then
reported the car in bad condition, claim
ing that the hole had been made by ac-
cident.
EACH PASCAL ASSIGNED HIS PART.
"The operations were all the result of
combination. Arrangements were care
fully made, and each rascal was assigne d
to his particular part of the work in much
the same way as bank robbery Is c.
Quoted by professional cracksmen. | do
not know that the members of the comb
natter were mouth bound or anything of
that kind, but 1t is certain that thorough
unGersts ndirg existed among them, and
.hey acaeG IN concert TO cover each others
misGoings. A thing which alarmed US
mo thaa anything else, was that they
5 . q la"ge quantities of whisky and drank
it i. Re cSsocse5. They nseded vessels
70 hold The Fquor, so they stole milk cans
end -pt it i'll them. Not daring to keep
WHISKY openly in the cars they tore up
tie Zoo ing and hid it underneath. Men
we cont nually reported drunk on duty,
slG tie probability OF disaster was some
tr1g Il %htiC' TO cortem plate.
Al! Lind5 OF goods were stolen, includ
lrg sew ing mp chimes, guns, revolvers, cut
ley, silve.w2re, gars, clothing, liquors,
groceries, furniture, and in fact every
mag nary article that can be carried on
a c., were Quietly removed. The depre
dat.LpS We're committed ali along the
Odd, and tie losers reside as far west as
Denver. Fences were established in this
ciUy, wlere tie stolen property was taken
ana then sold, the money being evenly
divided among the crews. 1t is impos-
sible TO give the aggregate value of the
properly stolen, but it will not reach
100000, as reported"
EXCITEMENT OVER THE ARRESTS.
The arrests have created the greatest
excitement among the railroad employees
of the city. The scenes about the jail
doors this morning, where relatives of the
prisoners had gathered to learn the cause
of their arrests were of the saddest de-
scription. Wives, parents children
brothers and sisters with ear-stalned
faces stood around the entrances to the
prison eager to hear the latest develop
ments and pleading with the officers
for admission to the jail to see
the prisoners. At O'Clock teR
moro arrests were reported. They were
captured at the pay while receiving
their wages. This makes total of fifty
six now in Jail here, and it is supposed
that as many more have been apprehend-
cd at other points along the line. Con-
sternation prevails among the proprietors
of the "fences" and dens where the goods
were secreted and sold. In one instance
the proprietor of a notorious den was de-
tected in the act of burning stolen pro-
perty.
A telegram just received from Denni-
son, Ohio, states that J. r. Dunlap, the
leader of the gang, was arrested Shere this
morning.
The following are the names of the
parties lodged in Jail this morning: Con-
ductors John Hastings, MacRoberts, j. p.
Brennan, l.. Black, II. R. Kuhn, Thomas
C. Shay, L j. HanIey, William Isett,
Charles Watson, Charles Shanks, c. Ian
gaire and Clyde Laughlin.
Brakemen-J. G. Lawson, V. L. Myers,
Edward Wolf, l. T. Haggerty, Robert
Mackey, NJ. g. Connolly, George Schrier,
S. Goodman, j. A. Fisher, w. I. Lavelle,
Thomas Vincent, A. l.. Collins, VIM. r.
Boales. John A. Bowser, Michael Joyce,
w. G. Martin, Geo. Morris, L. o. Gutshal,
A. Griffiths, NJ. B. Doyle, John Donovan,
John Martin, VIM. Roth, John Sweeney,
L. W. Abers, j. w. Richey, VIM. Briggs,
John Kirkwood, j. F. Wright, H. A. Tay-
lor, H. w. McCune, j. G. Thompson, j.
S. Kinney, Michael Reilly, Thomas Long,
Samuel Fitch and James Young. Seven
more arrests have been made, but the
names have not been recorded. Nearly
two hundred warrants are still out, and it
is expected that the list of arrests IN
this city will be swelled to eighty before
night.
GOODS RECOVERED.
number of houses in various parts of
the city were raided to-day and large
quantity of goods recovered. Every man
arrested had stolen goods somewhere.
Among the prisoners are several desper-
ate characters, who were wanted by the
police for other offenses. They were all
armed and when not taken by surprise
resisted arrest. Numbers overpowered
them, however, and all were safely lodged
in Jail.
A special dispatch from DeEnison says
the officers have arrested James and W.
Coils with several thousand dollars
worth of velvets and high priced dry
goods in their possession, articles taken
from United States bonded cars en- route
to Chicago, ST. Louis and other points
West. One Busby, the worst man in the
gang, slipped his handouts and reckless
ly threw himself from the tram while it
was going and escaped
BRAKEMAN CONFESSION.
The most important arrest made here
was Brakeman Young. He call at the
jail to see one of the prisoners this morn
ing, and was Immediately locked up. At
first he protested that he was innocent,
but finally admitted that he had a large
lot of the stolen property at his home,